Five Years of Slormite Chronicles! It’s all in the title. The Slormancer was released in Early Access on April 6th, 2021 (five years ago!), and we decided from that point on to publish a Slormite Chronicles every month, on the 6th. Which means we’re now celebrating the 60th (!!!) Slormite Chronicles . That’s no small milestone. If you want to see what the very first Slormite Chronicles looked like, you can check it out here ! We had just launched the game in Early Access, and our emotions were all over the place, thrilled to have reached this milestone, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of feedback and reviews, and slightly desperate about how much work still lay ahead. At the time, the game only had a single Act, two environments, around ten enemies, a hard cap at level 40, a single endgame mode, and about thirty Slorm Reapers. We were still quite far from the final form of the game. And there was also a colossal number of technical issues. Re-reading that first Chronicles, I realized we were announcing our migration from GameMaker Studio 1 to 2, a transition that took me nearly two months. Not exactly ideal right after release. Never Missing a Beat Since then, we’ve never missed a 6th of the month. Some Chronicles have been a bit light on content depending on what we were working on, but I’ve learned the hard way that trying to fill an emptier Chronicles with promises and hype is never a good idea. Sometimes, not much happens and that’s okay. But that is not the case this month. Where We Are Now Since the 1.0 release and the follow-up patches to fix the many remaining bugs, we struggled quite a bit to find the motivation needed to move forward with a proper DLC. After a setback with the Roguelike mode, which turned out to be underwhelming, not really what players expected, and ultimately something we decided to abandon, we shifted our focus to the game’s fourth class: The Whimsical Witch . This meant starting over from scratch on a massive undertaking. We agreed to take our time, work at our own pace, and explore other projects on the side. The problem is: creating a class is a huge task. And when you move slowly on something that big, it often feels like you’re not progressing at all. That makes it very hard to stay motivated, because instead of feeling closer to the finish line… it feels like you’re standing still while still not seeing the end. About ten days ago, we decided to go all-in, so to speak. We paused everything else and focused entirely on finishing this fourth class, pushing as hard and as fast as possible to climb that mountain. And honestly, it feels great. We haven’t produced this many assets and skills in such a short time in a long while, and seeing real progress again has been a huge motivation boost. So… When Is It Coming? To keep it simple: I estimate we’ll finish the development phase of the class within about two weeks (woohoo!). After that, we’ll need to integrate and polish all the assets so everything feels great, followed by a solid round of debugging and balancing. Some effects I coded looked great on paper but turned out to be way too strong, while others are… well, completely useless. Classic Slormancer. Once that’s done, we’ll move into an experimental version to iron out the remaining major issues and continue working on the rest of the upcoming update’s content. As always: no release date until we’re confident about our window. But we’re definitely getting close to something. Here are a few screenshots of the Whimsical Witch’s abilities: The famous Spectral Companion, now with proper assets! Scythe Strike in action. We talked about the Life and Death mechanic in a previous Chronicles: it’s somewhat similar to the Huntress’ Mood system, where you balance effects depending on the bonuses you want. Here, Scythe Strike can be either a Life spell (green) or a Death spell (purple), which changes the bonuses it grants. Scythe Flurry A skill that launches a projectile with numerous upgrades that can drastically alter its behavior, from something akin to a hammerdin to an incredibly slow yet devastating projectile. Siphon Soul The Whimsical Witch can use Soul Stones to transform her Life spells into minions. To do so, she must gather Soul Stones dropped through various abilities. The core skill here is Siphon Soul : a channeled single-target spell (initially) that guarantees Soul Stone generation. Upgrades allow it to chain between enemies, target your own minions to boost their damage, or scale with the number of Soul Stones you have, classic stuff. The skill also scales with the Mana spent since the start of the channel, and includes an upgrade that converts its Mana cost into a percentage of Max Mana instead of a flat cost, making large Mana pools extremely effective. And last but not least (and a first for a class skill): an upgrade that turns Siphon Soul into a toggleable aura, for those who don’t like clicking. What About Consoles?! At the same time, a publisher is handling the console port, which is expected toward the end of the year. Confirmed platforms include PS5, Xbox Series, and both Switch 1 and 2 . We’ve also started receiving prototype box art for a physical edition, which is incredibly exciting for us! We’ll also be leveraging the improvements made for the console port to provide a better experience on the Steam Deck. That’s it for today! See you for the sixty-first. Cheers!

Update on Progress Hello everyone! In case you missed it in the last Slormite Chronicles , we’ve started implementing the new class for The Slormancer directly into the game: The Whimsical Witch . February was largely split between projects unrelated to The Slormancer and a short vacation break. For family reasons, the game's development pace often slows down during school holidays, which was the case in February. That being said, we still managed to make progress on several aspects of the game, particularly on the Whimsical Witch. At this point, I only have two more skills left to implement. The rest are already functioning properly and mainly need a few assets and a good round of polishing. However, the class is still quite far from being finished. We’ll have quite a bit of internal balancing to do before letting a few testers get their hands on it, people who are much more efficient than the two of us when it comes to quickly spotting technical issues and balance problems. The Whimsical Witch, PT.II : Support Skills! After last month’s teaser about the mechanics of the Whimsical Witch, here are a few more details about her Support Skills and Specializations. Brew Vortex The Whimsical Witch’s first Support Skill consists of stirring a cauldron with maximum intensity, so intensely that it creates a vortex around her, dealing continuous damage in the surrounding area. Think of it as a stationary Whirlwind that scales with area damage. Brew Vortex also allows the Witch to automatically gather ingredients for her Potion mechanic while channeling the skill. Certain upgrades will enhance the effects or duration of potions consumed during Brew Vortex. The specialization associated with Brew Vortex is The Potion Chef , which will, among other things, make it easier to gather ingredients and improve all effects related to the Potion system ( see Chronicles 58 ). Spectral Companion Spectral Companion allows the Whimsical Witch to summon one of the three base classes (Knight, Huntress, or Mage) in spectral form to assist her. Each class performs a different attack: Whirlwind for the Knight, an enhanced Arrow Shot for the Huntress, and Rift Nova for the Mage. The Spectral Companion lasts for a few seconds before disappearing and is initially chosen at random from the three classes. With certain upgrades, it will be possible to always summon the same Companion. Another upgrade allows the skill to be cast twice, and a final one lets you summon all three Companions at once. We tried the version with all three Companions active, it's incredible and incredibly fun. 10/10 would recommend. The specialization associated with Spectral Companion is The Spirit Guide , which focuses on improving all of the Whimsical Witch’s minion-related spells and increasing their duration. Through the use of Soulstones , it will allow players to either build a massive army or, on the contrary, maintain a small group of elite minions with unlimited duration. (Above, I'm using Spectral Companion, with non-spectral placeholders) The Third Eye The Third Eye is a toggle skill that allows the Whimsical Witch to place a spectral eye at a targeted location. Once placed, all skills cast by the Whimsical Witch originate from the Third Eye’s location instead of the Witch’s own position. This opens up a wide range of possibilities, such as creating new lines of sight without exposing yourself or casting melee abilities without actually being in close combat. Since we wanted to include some mobility in a Support Skill, one of the first upgrades allows the Witch to swap positions with the Third Eye. We also planned an upgrade that adds a Second Third Eye (yes), which duplicates all the skills cast from the first one. The specialization associated with The Third Eye is The Fortuneteller , which will provide various generic improvements to several of the Whimsical Witch’s mechanics, such as the Infection system or mechanics related to using Bryan McRipped . We are aware that progress on additional content for The Slormancer has been a bit slower than during Early Access. After spending so much time on the game, a bit of fatigue has naturally set in, so we’re allowing ourselves some flexibility to explore other ideas and projects that excite us, some of which could potentially lead to a new game. This helps us avoid burning out completely. Because of this, it’s difficult for us to give a precise release date for upcoming content. We’re likely going to revisit and improve a few elements of the base game and release those changes alongside the new class. We initially hoped to release it around the same time as the console versions, which should arrive sometime this year, but the timelines we’ve received are still too vague to commit to anything yet. That’s all for today. As always, these concepts are subject to change and are much easier to understand in-game than in a Chronicles post. I’m sharing what we currently have, and I hope you like it! Cheers!

The Whimsical Witch Hello everyone! In case you missed it at the end of January’s Chronicles, we’ve started implementing the new class for The Slormancer directly into the game: The Whimsical Witch . We’re reposting the teaser we shared in the previous Chronicles, and then we’ll take a closer look at some of the Witch’s core mechanics. Up until now, the classes we’ve worked on were almost entirely complete before we started sharing information or visuals. We usually had plenty of GIFs and in-game footage ready to show This time, things are a bit different. Since we are currently developing the class, I’m constrained by the assets that are already integrated into the game. With HyonD, we’ve always worked in large batches: while I code all the mechanics and skills using placeholder assets and bits borrowed from other classes, he focuses on creating the final visuals. This is usually followed by a few intense days of integration, where everything suddenly clicks and becomes a lot more pleasant to look at. We’re not quite there yet That said, I can already talk about the skills and mechanics of The Whimsical Witch that are currently implemented in-game and are getting closer and closer to what you’ll experience in the final version. So without further ado, here are the core mechanics of The Whimsical Witch. Life and Death The Whimsical Witch can cast two types of Skills: Life Skills and Death Skills. She possesses a Balance that oscillates between Life and Death, ranging from 0 to 100 degrees depending on the Skills you cast. When you cast a Death Skill, the Balance shifts 10 degrees toward Death. For example, if you were perfectly even (50 Life / 50 Death), you would move to 40 Life / 60 Death. At its extremes, you can reach 100 degrees toward Life or Death, with 0 on the opposite side. Certain effects will trigger when you fully commit to one side, while others will activate when you maintain perfect balance. Some effects also scale directly with the Balance itself (for example: +1% Max Mana per degree toward Death). You will also be able to Cheat Death (or Life) and distort the Balance, allowing you to temporarily reach 100 degrees on both sides at once for a few seconds. Soulstone By default, Death Skills generate a resource called Soulstone, while Life Skills always have at least one upgrade that consumes Soulstone to transform their effect into a Minion once the Skill ends. For example, the Skill Spectral Bat Flight launches a Spectral Bat (a projectile) that bounces between enemies. When the Spectral Bat is supposed to disappear, with the right upgrade, and if you have enough Soulstone, it instead turns into a Minion and continues attacking nearby enemies. By combining the right Soulstone upgrades and generators, it will be possible to build either a large but short-lived Minion army, or a smaller yet permanent one. Infection This is The Whimsical Witch’s Damage over Time mechanic. Infection deals exponential damage and triggers additional effects based on the number of Infection stacks. Infection can stack up to 10 times. Incubation Threshold (1 stack): Infection deals 1 Skill Damage per second per stack for the next 7 seconds. Eruption Threshold (3 stacks): Infection deals 5% Skill Damage per second per stack, and spreads half of its Infection stacks to enemies within a 2-yard radius when the enemy dies. Propagation Threshold (10 stacks): The spread distance is doubled, and all Infection stacks are spread. Infection also deals X Increased Damage, equal to your Damage over Time. Agony Threshold (15 stacks): If the enemy is not a Boss, it dies instantly. As you may have guessed, reaching the Agony Threshold will require finding ways to increase the maximum number of Infection stacks. There are already several upgrades spread across different specializations that enhance this mechanic. For example: Cluster : If a friendly or enemy at the Propagation Threshold is within 2 yards of at least three other friendlies or enemies affected by Infection at the Propagation Threshold, it spreads 1 Infection to another random enemy within 3 yards. Transmission Vector : The Whimsical Witch and the Minions she controls can now be affected by Infection without taking damage from it. This second Skill allows you to quickly generate Infection when Minions die, while also enabling the Cluster upgrade to trigger more easily, allowing Infection to spread rapidly without having to constantly rebuild stacks. Bryan McRipped This mechanic turns Bryan into a Minion that works a little differently from the others. With certain upgrades, the Witch can transfer charges to Bryan, allowing him to unleash various attacks against nearby enemies. This mechanic has changed several times since its initial implementation, as we’re not fully satisfied yet with its feel or gameplay loop. As such, I’m intentionally keeping things a bit vague for now. Preparing Potions This is one of the Witch’s core mechanics. With certain Skill and Passive upgrades, you’ll be able to find ingredients on enemies. For example, hitting an enemy with Scythe Strike has a 5% chance to drop a potion ingredient. There are three possible ingredients: Thawed Ice Cube, Beaver’s Pinion and Viper Bristle. Once you collect three ingredients, a potion is prepared and immediately consumed, granting a buff based on the potion created. There are 10 possible ingredient combinations (for example: 3× Thawed Ice Cube, or 2× Beaver’s Pinion + 1× Viper Bristle), each resulting in a different potion, such as: 1 Thawed Ice Cube + 2 Beaver’s Pinion = “Misplaced Optimism Brew”, granting +15% Inner Fire Chance, +15% Overdrive Chance, +5% Ancestral Chance. Potions currently last 30 seconds (subject to change once we start testing), but with the right upgrades they can last longer or even stack. As for ingredients, there are already several upgrades that allow them to be picked up automatically or filtered more easily. Ultimately, we want at least two distinct playstyles around this mechanic: – Collect everything and maintain as many potion effects as possible. – Or carefully filter ingredients to prepare a single potion and stack it to maximize its effects. That’s all for today. As always, these concepts are subject to change and are much easier to understand in-game than in a Chronicles post. I’m sharing what we currently have, and I hope you like it! Cheers!

Happy New Year everyone! Just like last year (and the year before that… and the one before that), this Chronicle is a recap of the past year. That said, this time we actually have quite a lot to share, so make sure to read all the way through! A Year of Chronicles: 2025 Edition Fun fact: You may not know this but we publish the Slormite Chronicles devlog every 6th of the month, which is the day The Slormancer was released (on April 6, 2021). Everytime we publish a Slormite Chronicles, the game gets one month older, and it is currently 4 years and 9 months old. The actual out-of-Early Access release was on May 13, 2025, so it is actually 8 months old in its final form. Quite a year! Since 2025 was the year of The Slormancer’s full release, it was obviously a very intense year for both the game and us, not only in terms of workload, but also stress and preparation. Looking back, everything went incredibly well. Of course, there were a few bumps along the way, but nothing we couldn’t handle. The year kicked off with the announcement of the final changes coming to the game, as well as the start of the full localization process across multiple languages for the entire game, back in Slormite Chronicles #46. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/497186807117513294 In that Chronicle, we announced the opening of the Experimental Branch, which was initially planned to last for nearly two months. We later went back on that decision in Slormite Chronicles #47, which understandably caused some frustration. In hindsight, we should have given this more thought before making the announcement. However, opening the Experimental Branch two weeks before release instead of two months allowed us to better focus and concentrate our player count during that period, and ultimately proved to be a positive decision. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/536595840131662315 Things got serious when we started updating our Steam Page with new gifs and key arts. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532094774027485766 Before After A little over a month before release, we carefully planned every major milestone: the Experimental Branch, the patch notes, the final Chronicles, the release date announcement, and the unlocking of Achievements and Steam Cards, all with the goal of driving as many new and returning players as possible. These are small details, and it’s impossible to know whether each of them truly made a difference. Still, nothing was left to chance. All of the elements below were carefully timed so we would have enough room to handle any kind of issue. On April 24, we officially announced the release date: the future of planet Earth (or almost) would be decided on May 13, 2025. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/550109885443868211 April 27: Patch Notes go live! April 29: Experimental Branch opens! May 6: Final Slormite Chronicles in Early Access May 12: Achievements and Steam Trading Cards are activated May 13: We hit the “Release” button… and start sweating. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091313 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091366 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091356 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532096041998091315 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/497186807117513397 Two weeks after release, we published a Slormite Chronicles dedicated to the launch, reporting a peak of over 10,000 concurrent players, strong positive coverage from content creators, and more than 250,000 copies sold. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/822580849468770007 With the release behind us, we could finally take a step back and start discussing the future of the game and our plans for what comes next. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532100473328502926 At the same time, as mentioned in the following Chronicle, my goal was to fix as many bugs as possible. With so many new and returning players jumping into the game, the number of reported bugs was astronomical, so it was time to roll up our sleeves for one last sprint. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532102384016429353 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532100473328504097 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532104542613931902 Then, holidays! https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532105554615601900 By the time September rolled around, we were more or less rested, with the release behind us and most of the feedback either addressed or waiting for a future update. It was finally time to look ahead and focus on new content. Looking back, this next series of Chronicles is actually quite funny. Here’s a quick summary: In Slormite Chronicles #53, we talked about our plans for the future, including a new mode called “The Rogue Mode,” which was meant to introduce a roguelike way of exploring the game’s content. The feedback was positive, and players were interested. In Slormite Chronicles #54, we went into more detail about the mode, and the feedback was almost unanimous: nobody wanted it. Oh. Well. Since we weren’t fully satisfied with what we were building either, we ended up agreeing with the players (Slormite Chronicles #55) and decided to take a safer route instead: a brand-new class, which we started teasing in Slormite Chronicles #56. https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/532108725302855529 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/524229329545071629 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/563639634283725125 https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/493836377652201086 The Whimsical Witch December brought some real progress! All the abilities are now ready to be implemented in-game, and on my side I was waiting for the few animations needed to start integration. At a minimum, we needed an idle animation, a walk cycle, and a few attack poses to begin farming our first enemies. And HyonD didn’t waste any time, most of the class’s animations are ready. All that’s left is to integrate them into the game so we have the core of the class in place before focusing on the animations and effects for each ability. Things are really taking shape! Without further ado, here’s a little visual teaser for the new class: The Whimsical Witch . That's about it! Cheers!